The Hold-Fast
By George Herbert

          I threaten'd to observe the strict decree
               Of my dear God with all my power and might;
               But I was told by one it could not be;
          Yet I might trust in God to be my light.
          "Then will I trust," said I, "in Him alone."
               "Nay, e'en to trust in Him was also His:
               We must confess that nothing is our own."
          Then I confess that He my succour is."
          "But to have nought is ours, not to confess
               That we have nought." I stood amaz'd at this,
               Much troubled, till I heard a friend express
          That all things were more ours by being His;
               What Adam had, and forfeited for all,
               Christ keepeth now, who cannot fail or fall.